You have resolved that this is the year that you will finally get in shape. Although you have tried joining various gyms in the past, you ended up spending lots of money for monthly memberships that you never really used. And even though you would like to get out and walk more, it’s either too cold and snowy in the winter or incredibly hot and humid in the summer.
In order to keep your New Year’s resolution to exercise more and get healthier, a terrific option is to have workout space in your own home. In addition to being incredibly convenient, having a home gym can be very cost effective and help you to meet your fitness goals. In order to create an inspiring workout space, consider the following steps:
Choose Your Space Wisely
When deciding where you want to work out, don’t automatically go with the unused areas like the basement or even guest rooms. As Better Homes and Gardens notes, bedrooms tend to be a bit too small for good workouts and many basements have bad lighting and sometimes funny odors that will not be conducive to spending time there. Good choices are living rooms, family rooms and great rooms. As a bonus, these rooms often have televisions in them, which can help to pass the time, depending on which type of workout you are doing.
Choose Your Activity
Before going out to purchase workout gear and equipment, think about what types of exercise you really like to do. If you enjoy going on long walks on pleasant days, then you might do well with a treadmill. If you have always enjoyed exploring the neighborhood on your bike, then a stationary bike might be just the thing. Other examples of home workouts include elliptical machines, yoga areas and Zumba.
Choose Your Colors and Lighting
Once you have selected the type of exercise that you are going to do, you can select colors for the workout room to help motivate you to get in there and work out. As Home Guides notes, colors like yellow and red are energizing and can help get you in the mood for a good 20-minute jog on the treadmill. If yoga or Tai Chi are your cup of tea, cooler and more soothing shades like light aqua or sea green will help to promote relaxation. The lighting is also important for your workout space to be a hit. If it’s dark you probably won’ t want to spend a lot of time in there exercising. Instead, choose a room with plenty of natural light and if the windows have seen better days, consider replacing them with new windows that can help keep the room comfortable.
Choose Your Workout Accessories
In order to help you get through your workouts, your new home gym should have some entertainment sources like a TV, DVD player or stereo. These can also be used to play workout videos or yoga routines that you can follow along to. In order to keep any workout gear concealed when you are not using it. My Home Ideas suggests hiding them inside a TV cabinet or other piece of furniture with drawers and doors. This way, once you are done working out, you can tuck away your shoes, yoga mats, small weights to keep everything out of sight until next time.
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